Bloomingdale, Trinidad, Brookland, Fort Totten— these are a few of the neighborhoods included in Ward 5, which covers much of northeast DC. There are a lot of contested races for the ward’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions this year, with well over 50 candidates total. We found eight who deserve your vote.
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Shoveling from the weekend’s snowstorm is a big job. Many residents and businesses have cleared sidewalks, but some have not. Those that deserve a special circle of hell: businesses who had no trouble shoveling huge parking lots but left their sidewalks impassable.
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Have house prices in your neighborhood doubled or tripled in the last decade or so, making buying a house seem far out of reach? Or did the bust leave many house and condo owners underwater and they still haven’t recovered? It depends on where you live. Keep reading…

We hear a lot about building new housing, retail, and offices, but space for artists to work is also a valuable part of neighborhoods. It’s not just for the artists themselves. When artists have work spaces in our communities, it can make art more accessible to the regular person.
Many artists open up their studios to the general public, either regularly or during special… Keep reading…

There’s no set formula for the notoriously difficult task of turning around a failing school. But if you find the right principal and give him or her enough resources and freedom, you might be on your way.
The pace of improvement at DCPS schools has generally been painfully slow, but a few have seen significant gains in proficiency in recent years while continuing to serve… Keep reading…

DC’s Historic Preservation Review Board approved a roof deck for a row house near 15th and T last month, but not before a few members lamented ever setting a precedent of allowing them in the first place.
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Florida Avenue, NE is one of the most dangerous roads in DC for all modes of transportation, and a 71-year-old pedestrian was just recently killed trying to cross. Past studies have recommended widening the sidewalks here, but residents likely have to wait even longer for fixes as DDOT embarks on yet another study.
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The new ANC 5D, which includes the neighborhoods of Ivy City, Trinidad, Carver Langston, and Gallaudet University, will hold its second monthly meeting next Tuesday at a location outside the ANC’s boundaries. Why would the level of DC government closest to the people purposely meet at a place that makes it difficult for residents to attend? Keep reading…

The Ward 5 Redistricting Task Force recently began the process of deciding if and how to redraw the ward’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs). The task force should create more ANC’s with fewer Single Member Districts (SMDs) in each.
SMDs are the individual districts that make up each ANC. Each SMD serves around 2,000 constituents. Commissioners are unpaid,… Keep reading…

Good schools help cities or vice versa?; ANC wants changes for Walmart; Why the hating on neighborhoods?; Transportation is political in Virginia; Just what transit needs: TSA screening; Crashes around the region; Klein bringing bus shelter screens to Chicago; Watch young planners showcasing. Keep reading…

West Virginia Avenue forms the boundary between Gallaudet University and Trinidad. A fence lines the university property, making diffusion between the school and the neighborhood difficult. Were it not there, crossing West Virginia Avenue would still be very difficult, because traffic doesn’t have to stop anywhere along this boundary.
The road is often busy with… Keep reading…

Some wards divide up their ANCs by neighborhood. Ward 5, already a geographically large ward, is carved into only three ANCs, each containing a whopping 12 single-member districts and even splitting Brookland up between ANCs.
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The Trinidad car barn at 15th and H Streets, NE, was once the last remaining structure in the city to have once housed a cable car power plant. According to a 1970 Washington Post article, the mechanism — which was gone long before the building was demolished in 1971 — consisted of a stationary steam engine that continuously propelled a steel cable beneath the streets… Keep reading…